Critters

**_Entertaining popcorn flick from the mid-80s is both cartoonish and horrifying_** Small, furry extraterrestrials harass a farm town in America while two bounty hunters try to capture them. "Critters" (1986) takes the basic premise of 50’s alien-invasion flicks, like “The Blob” or “War of the Worlds,” but meshes it with the tone and furry creatures of “Gremlims” from two years prior. The Kansas farmhouse and small town setting recalls teen Clark Kent’s situation in “Superman” (1978). The movie expertly walks the balance beam between fun & amusing and deadly serious creature feature. The vibe is similar to "Neon Maniacs" from the same year, but this is superior, as well as superior to “Gremlims.” Dee Wallace is a highlight as the wife/mother, never looking better, while Nadine Van der Velde is worth a mention as the brunette daughter. On the other side of the gender spectrum, a young Billy Zane shows up as the latter’s beau while Terrence Mann has a memorable dual role, not to mention impressively wrote the catchy song for the soundtrack, “Power of the Night.” I like how this isn’t a typical alien-visitation flick. The addition of the galactic bounty hunters adds an interesting new dimension, a concept that would be ripped off the next year by “The Hidden.” It runs 1 hour, 26 minutes, and was shot in Valencia, Santa Clarita, which is a 45-minutes drive northwest of downtown Los Angeles. GRADE: B+/A-

<em>'Critters'</em> is <em>'Gremlins'</em>-esque fun overall, though it isn't supremely enjoyable all the way through; I felt some pacing issues. The titular aliens do look the part though, even all these years later. The practical effects are nice, that house explosion is particularly great. Scott Grimes is the actor that stood out most to me whilst watching. I do like how the kid is written, usually in these sorta films they tend to be only annoyingly bratty but here there are a couple of moments where you can see Brad's good; e.g. with Charlie, or with his mum. A nice touch, I thought. It is a movie that I'd say lacks consistent thrill, but all in all it's one I'll still be considering as passable. Hopefully the sequels are more critter-centric than human-centric though, that's the only way I reckon a franchise like this could avoid bad follow-ups.

It's great when you re-visit a film you enjoyed as a kid and find that as an adult it still totally holds up. Sure _Critters_ almost definitely found its start as nothing more than one of the slew or various _Gremlins_ rip-offs that were being written up at the time, but it's precisely the differences **from** _Gremlins_ that make _Critters_ any kind of success. The more overt sci-fi elements of the film have become a mainstay in the franchise, and are a big part of what makes this thing worth coming back to. _Final rating:★★★½ - I really liked it. Would strongly recommend you give it your time._

"Critters" is one of those rare movies that comes along that, despite all odds against it, manages to strike just the right chord. A little-monsters mix of scifi, horror, and comedy, the film uses its low budget as part of its charm. It scales the film farely small, that being a family farm that's attacked by Crites, voracious little eating machines from outer space, rather than a world-spanning threat. This is likely due to the low budget, but it works very well because the lower scale gives the audience a chance to know and identify with the characters, including the Crites themselves. The Crites are more than just Gremlins from space. They have their own language (subtitled, of course) and given that there are only a handful of them gives the filmmakers a chance to give them some character as they interact with each other and the environment (watching one of them try to talk to an ET doll is worth a chuckle). It's not a great film, but it's still a fun way to spend an hour and a half. Just don't expect the same magic from the sequels.

Good watch, could watch again and do recommend. This is a good one to jump into the way back machine for, and I'm waiting on a reboot to happen. (Actually...."The Tomorrow War" is sort of on the same track) The critters themselves are (in a horrible way) cute and vicious looking, the acting is decent, the story is good, and I'm a big fan of the shape shifting hunters sent to kill them. When it comes down to it, the movie is a lot of fun and worth giving a watch.